Take-up device for store-service apparatus.



L L I H G R U H G L W TAKE-UP DEVICE FOR STORE SERVICE APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. '31. 1902.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

N0 MODEL.

li'm n/ior':

' Jay x H M W a an.

No. 739,959. BAJEENTED SEPT. '15, 1903.

w. L. CHURCHILL. TAKE-UP DEVICE FOR. STORE SERVICE: AB-P;AR.ATUS.

nrhmumn rmzn one. 31. 19.02;.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

R0 MODEL.

Qwa

UNITED STATES Patented September 15, 1903. 1

PATENT OF ICE.-

WILLIAM L. CHURCHILL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO NATIONAL PNEUMATIC SERVICE COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A OORPORA- TION OF ILLINOIS.

TAKE-UP DEVICE FOR STORE-SERVICE APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 739,059, dated September 15, 1903. Application filed December 31,1902. Serial No. 137.286. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern-.-

Be'it known that I,WI LLIAM L. CHURCHILL, a citizen of the United States of America,residing at Ohicago-,-in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Take-Up Devices for Store-Service Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

Myinvention relates to certain new and usefulimprovementsin take-up devices forstoreservice apparatus; and its object is to produce a device of this class for use in any cable-propelled cash-carrier system.

To this end my invention consists in certain I 5 novel features of construction clearly shown in the accompanying drawings and described in this specification.

In the aforesaid drawings, Figure 1 is aside elevation of my improved take-up mechanzo ism. Fig. 2 is a section in the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig; 3 is a section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a view looking in substantially the same direction as in Fig. 1, the cable and motor-pulley being, however, removed. Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view showing the operation of the device. Fig. 6 is a section through the spring-drum, and Fig. 7 is a face view of the keyhole-plate, the purpose of which will presently be apparent.

Referring to the drawings, A is the desk at the terminal station, upon which desk stands a box B, to which are suitably connected the tracks 0.

D is the propelling-cable of the system. 5 Within the box B are three pulleys, b 19 19 The cable D enters the box B, as shown in Fig. 1, passes over the first pulley b through a suitable perforation in the desk A around a'suitably driven motor-pulley E, back over 0 the second pulley 11 down and around a takeup pulley F, up and over the third pulley around a pulley b journaled in brackets 0, supported by the tracks 0 O, and thence out to the system. The take-up pulley F is mount- 5 ed on a cross-head G, which runs on two rails H. Stops h are provided on the rails H to limit the downward motion of the cross-head, these stops being longitudinally adjustable.

A spring-drum I at or near the bottom of the rails is provided which contains a spring 7/,

the drum exerting'a downward pull on one end of a rope J, whose other end is secured to the cross-head G. The spring-drum therefore exerts on the cross-head and take-up pulley a continuous downward pull.

To the top of the cross-head is secured a rope K, extending through a keyhole-plate L in the desk and terminating in a button 70. A knot or other-enlargement 7c is provided on the rope K, which by engagement with the keyhole-plate can lock the rope when desired. The object of this rope is to permit the operator to pull up the cross head and take up pulley when desirable. The purpose of this act will be apparent from the description of the operation of the device which will presently be made.

The pulley 19 within the box B is keyed on a single shaft, which shaft is journaled in the ends of the box. It is quite obvious, however, that the pulleys might be rotatable upon the shaft and the shaft stationary, if desirable. Other modifications of the specific construction herein shown and described will also appear to an ordinary mechanic, and I do not therefore consider myself limited to the specific form herein described,'although I have gone at length into details of construction.

The operation of the device is substantially as follows: Under normal conditions the takeup pulley merely keeps the cable in the system at a reasonable tension, the cable passing in the course'heretofore indicated about the pulleys and being driven by the motor pulley. -When, however, any change in the length of the cable occurs, as occasionally happens with varying atmospheric conditions, slack may be produced. The cable then runs over the motor-pulley as before, and the slack accumulates on the farther side of the same. The tension on the cable becomes less, therefore, and the spring pulling on the cross-head and take-up pulley draws. the same down,.thereby taking up the 5 slack in the cable and obviating any danger of its slipping over the pulleys at any point.

It occasionally happens, however, that a carrier is positively caught in its course through the system, so that the cable is positively pre- I00 vented from moving. This causes of course a much greater amount of slack to accumuloop which passes around it; In other words,

my device affords automatic means for taking up slack in the cable underordinary circumstances and also affords means for releasing the cable from the motor-pulley under extraordinary circumstances when the cable is positivelyarrested in its movement.

Theobject of the rope K and the raising of the cross-head which it is adapted to effect is to enable the operator instantly to produce a large amount of slack in the system, there? by making the cable at once so loose as to cause it to slip on the motor-pulley, and consequently to stop the motion of the cable throughout the entire system. This occasionally becomes necessary, and it is a great convenience to have the device so constructed as to permit the operator by very slight motion to stop the system.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. In a device of the class described, the combination with a propelling-cable, of a motor-pulley adapted to drive the same, a suitable cross-head, a take-up pulley mounted in said cross-head, suitable guides for said crosshead and suitable stops on the guides for limiting its motion, whereby the cable is kept underreasouable tension, and slack is permitted to accumulate when the cable is under extreme tension.

2. In a device of the class described, the

combination with a propelling-cable and motor-pulley adapted to drive the same, of an idler-pulley adapted to take up slack in the cable and means for manually raising said take-up pulley to produce slack when desired.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination with a propelling-cable and motor-pulley adapted to drive the same, of an idler-pulley adapted to take up slack in the cable, means for manually raising said takeup pulley to produce slack when desired, and means for locking the idler in its raised position.

4. In a device of the class described, the combination with a cable and motor-pulley adapted to drive the same, of two parallel rails, a cross-head slidable thereon, a springdrum,and means of connection between said drum and cross head whereby the crosshead is normally drawn down, an idler-pulley mounted in the cross-head, and suitable stops on the rails adapted to limit the downward motion of the cross-head, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

5. In a device of the-class described, the combination with a propelling-cable, ofa motor-pulley for the same, an idler-pulley, means for exerting tension upon said idler-pulley to maintain a reasonable tension on the cable, and means forlimitingthe motion of theidlerpulley.

In Witness whereof I have signed the above application for Letters Patent, at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, this 10th day of December, A. D. 1902.

\VILLIAM L. CHURCHILL.

Vitnesses:

CHAS. O. SHERVEY, M. BLIss. 

